


Something Good

by Replazume



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dialogue Heavy, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Humor, M/M, MGiT, Modern Girl in Thedas, Multi, POV Third Person, Romance, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Insert, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 22:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13599327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Replazume/pseuds/Replazume
Summary: "The sunset glows bright over the horizon with rays curling over every surface in hues of orange. It's a beautiful sight and barely any noise is made in the breaking evening.That is, until, the rusted red car door squeaks roughly as Karli opens it. There sits her red-haired friend, looking at memes on her phone and blasting throwback music so loud it can be heard from miles away."Normal would be the best way to describe Daynie and Karli. Best friends since middle school, they're now struggling their way through adult life. But life changes when circumstances bring the two women to Thedas, and now they're faced with things they've only seen in fiction.





	Something Good

**Author's Note:**

> This is so exciting! I'm so excited for this fic it's something I've been thinking about for a while (A little over a year) and now that I finally have time and the passion to do it I'm so happy!
> 
> If you have any comments, suggestions, and need clarification don't be afraid to message or post in the comments! I want to make this fic enjoyable to read.
> 
> The way I'm planning this is for the first chapter, the POV is focused on both girls, but starting Ch. 2 the POV will change to focus on one girl and alternate between the two. It's an interesting way to fuse 2 stories with different perspectives of the same event into one fic.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this!

The sunset glows bright over the horizon with rays curling over every surface in hues of orange. It's a beautiful sight and barely any noise is made in the breaking evening.

That is, until, the rusted red car door squeaks roughly as Karli opens it. There sits her red-haired friend, looking at memes on her phone and blasting throwback music so loud it can be heard from miles away.

Daynie's eyes light up as Karli opens the door. "Hey girlie! Thanks so much for going thrift shopping with me, I'm so broke ass poor since I had to buy new parts for Bitch Tits." Daynie says, turning down her music slightly and watching her friend slide into the passenger seat of the busted car.

"Ah, good ole' Bitch Tits is a drain on the resources ain't she." Karli jokes while she slams the rusted door shut. "And no problem, I've been needing some new clothes too."

"Well if you need new clothes then buying used, old lady clothes is probably not where you wanna go." Daynie jokes back, backing Bitch Tits out of the driveway and on to the neighborhood street. "But yeah, I get it, I've been working so much and saving up a lot of money to get new car parts that I've probably torn through all my pants, so I really need to get some."

"You can finally turn your check engine light off," Karli says, making a point to stare up at the disaster of Daynie's dashboard which was lit up with all sorts of service car lights.

"I think the most important thing is to get my brakes fixed first."

"Yeah, that's probably a high priority." Karli shoots a smug smirk at Daynie with an eyebrow up.

"Shut up, leave me alone."

Karli laughs and stretches out her legs. "Anyway, when do your parts come in?"

"Ummm," Daynie leans forward, swiveling her head back and forth to see if it's safe for her to pull out onto the road. "Sometime in the middle of the week, hopefully. Bitch Tits is reliable, but it's only a matter of time before she completely craps out on me."

"That's good, I hope they come in soon too. Also do you wanna go get dinner somewhere cheap after? Cause my ass hasn't eaten since, like, 10 I think, and I'm starving." Karli gives an annoyed look at the clock car, looking at Daynie with raised brows. Sort of a passive-aggressive nod to how Daynie never gets out of work on time.

"Sorry, sorry!" Daynie says. "I got outta work late cause there's so much work to do and only a few people bother and... Ya know. But hey, more money for me." Daynie shrugs her shoulders sheepishly and gets into the turning lane.

"There's a point between making more money and being a pushover." Karli chastises.

"Whatever, just help me pick out some clothes instead of lecturing me. The place should be close, I made sure to Google one that wasn't ungodly far." Daynie looks down at her GPS and sees that in a little under a mile they'd reach the thrift store. It was a relatively small store: a small concrete building with windows that haven't been cleaned in a while, but the sign was functional and it nestled sweetly between two other (cleaner) franchise-owned shops.

Daynie parks her car and shuts off the engine, rubbing her suffering car affectionately. She sticks her phone and keys into her purse and shoves open the heavy door.

"I think this place closes in like an hour so we should be a bit quick." Daynie hooks her purse over her shoulder and begins walking up.

"Of course, you choose the shadiest place to shop at an hour before it closes." Karli sighs, climbing out of the run-down car and follows after her orange-headed friend towards the run-down shop. "I shouldn't let you be in charge of our shopping trips anymore."

"I feel like you say this every time yet we always find cute stuff and you keep me in charge of making decisions." Daynie holds open the door for her friend and looks around at the 'vintage' furniture and clothing lining the walls.

"Yeah, well, if we get murdered you're no longer in charge."

"Well shit, if death is the worst possible scenario, then I'm set for life in the decision-making department," Daynie says without missing a beat.

The door lets out a jingle as it slowly shuts behind them, and Karli raises her eyebrows at how empty the place is. No clerk stood behind the counter, and the air was unnervingly still.

"Well, I guess that's the universe's way of telling us we gotta service ourselves," Daynie says, somewhat unnerved by the lack of people.

"The universe can suck it then, this is scary. You know the black person always dies first, I refuse to die in a place like this." Karli crosses her arms and sticks close to her friend. "Just lead the way and find clothes so we can get out of here and not die."

"Yeah, I feel if we stay longer than we need to, we really will die and I won't be in charge of our shopping trips anymore." Daynie quips.

"Anyway, let's go find some clothes, cause I don't wanna stay here any more than we need to." Daynie says, beginning to walk towards a section of denim.

Karli follows until she spots a small table full of a variety of accessories. She makes her way towards it, distracted by the assortment of jewelry laid before her. She sees a couple cute things, but the object that most grabs her interest is a ring. Small and simple at first, but on closer inspection, there were tiny and ornate details lining the band, and converging around the petite red gem in the middle.

"Awe, this ring is really cute," Karli says to Daynie. She slides the ring on her index finger and marvels how well it fits. Karli admires the ring on her finger, then sighs. She needs clothes, not jewelry. Maybe on her next paycheck, she'll come back and get the ring if it hadn't been bought.

Karli grabs at the ring, expecting it to slide right off.

It doesn't.

"Hey, Daynie?" Karli desperately pulls at the ring around her finger, but no matter what it doesn't budge.

"Yeah, what's up? Didja find something cute?" Daynie picks out a shirt from the rack and gives it a once-over before putting it back and looking up to see Karli struggling with the ring on her finger. "Oh my Lord, how'd you get that stuck?" She says exasperated.

"I have no clue, I just put it on and now it won't come off!" Karli let's out a frustrated grunt and gives another hard pull.

"Hey, hold on, don't hurt yourself, you nut." Karli holds out her hand and Daynie takes it to see why the ring won't come off. "It's a super cute ring, how much does it cost?"

"I think around 50 dollars, but is that really important right now? I just wanna get this damn ring off."

"I mean, if it's not coming off, it's not coming off. We could always buy it and then go back to my place and put some butter or oil around it to see if it slips off?" Daynie suggests while trying to gently pull it off her friend's finger.

"I really don't wanna spend a lot of money on a ring I'm probably gonna lose. Like it is super cute, but it's also expensive and I'm not in the mood to obnoxiously spend money." Karli takes her hand away and looks at the ring. It was really nice. The metal had a shiny and clean quality and the silver stones surrounding the red gem in the middle was gorgeous and complimented her dark skin, but Karli knew she'd lose it within the next week.

"Should we find a store clerk to see what we can do? Maybe they'll have something to get it off."

"I mean, if you think you can find anyone, then sure, we can go ask." Karli sighs.

"Eh, 50 is a moderate amount, but you'd think it'd be something like 70 or 100 with how much detail there is. Maybe the metal and gems are fake."

"Well, we'll find out once it starts turning my finger green." Karli sarcastically says.

The girls circle the store twice. No matter what Karli does the ring won't come off, and no matter what Daynie does she can't find anyone. The girls spend a little under 15 minutes searching for any sign of human life, but eventually, they find themselves right where they began.

"Hello?" Daynie calls out. "What the hell, why is no one around? Like, I know we joked earlier that there's no one here, but I'm beginning to think that there's actually no one here."

"Maybe they're in the back getting ready to close?" Karli suggests.

"I mean yeah, but someone's gotta watch the front to service customers and there's been no one. Like anyone could come in and rob the store..." Daynie looks up with an idea and turns to look at Karli with raised eyebrows.

"No, we are not stealing it."

"I'm not suggesting stealing, I'm saying we accidentally walk out with it on, get it off and then bring it back saying you forgot you had it on..."

"So stealing."

"It's not stealing if we bring it back!"

"Oh yeah, and it's not murder if you say sorry after."

"..."

"Daynie, just cause I'm black doesn't mean I steal."

"Ugh, fine. Hold on." Daynie grabbed Karli's hand and dragged her to the front of the store. Daynie reaches into her purse and takes out her wallet.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm buying the stupid ass ring for you, so we can leave with a clear conscience." Daynie shoots a pointed look at her, rummaging through her bills and pulls out a couple twenty dollars bills and digs through her change. "Do you have a 10? I really don't want to count all the change I have."

"Let me see..." Karli searches through her wallet and pulls out two 5 dollar bills. "Here."

"I'm making this your Christmas present. Ugh, making me pay for a cheap ass ring just to take it off and probably lose it." Daynie grumbles. "I didn't even get to buy any clothes."

"I didn't either!" Karli chirped.

"Yeah, but you made out with a ring, I made out with 40 dollars less in my wallet." She puts the bills and on the counter and turns to face her friend with a 'There, are you satisfied?' look.

"Alright, now let's get outta here and get something to eat. If it makes you feel any better I'll pay for your dinner." Karli holds open the door for her friend, the little bell jingling ominously once more.

"That would make me very happy. At least the ring looks good on you. I swear if I had to pay for an ugly grandma ring I would've flipped out."

Karli looks down at the ring, inspecting it. She turns her hand over, marveling at the contrast between the light metal and her skin. Looking closer she sees an inscription on the band.

"There's an inscription on the ring." She says to Daynie.

"Well since I invested in this ring, I guess I have to care." Daynie makes her way back to Karli, and peers at her hand, noticing the delicate scratches on the ring of the band.

"What does it say? Can you read it?" Karli asks.

"Hmmm." Daynie squints her eyes, it's definitely not English. "I...Don't...Know. I'm trying to read it but it looks like a knock-off version of Latin."

"Maybe that's why it was so cheap."

"Something something Ignes Something. Well, Ignis in Latin is fire, so maybe it's saying something about fire?" Daynie sighs and pulls away. "I don't know man, Doesn't matter, I'm too hungry to try and figure out a dead language."

"But figuring out dead languages is your favorite hobby.”

Daynie snorts, and walks up to her wreck of a car, opening the door and sliding in.

"Here." Daynie tosses her phone into her friend's lap and turns on the car. "Find a place to eat that isn't gonna make us vom."

"Kay." Karli unlocks the phone and searches for a relatively decent place to eat that wouldn't completely drain her wallet. "Hmmm, wanna do Chinese?"

"Yeah sure, sounds good to me. What are the directions." Daynie questions, turning her headlights on. She pulls onto the empty road, awaiting Karli's instructions.

"Ehh, keep going straight, and I'll tell you when to make a right." Karli squints down at the phone. Shifting the technological map around to figure out the directions.

"How's your finger, has it fallen off yet?" Daynie asks. She turned down the radio, still a bit loud from her jam session earlier, but now was time to chill.

"Nope, not yet. Everything's still there. Sorry to disappoint." Karli says. She looks down at the inscription again. "I'm so curious as to what it says. Probably some bullcrap though..."

"I know it said something about Magickae, which the Latin version is Magicae, which means magic. So something fire and magic or whatever." Daynie says.

"The burning fire I feel in my heart after Taco Bell is magic." Karli mutters.

Daynie bursts out laughing. "What if it actually said that?! Oh my God, I'd cry. What if I spent 40 dollars on a ring that talked about heartburn?! That's so funny. I'm gonna pretend that's what it says."

"I'm glad that tickled you." Karli looks down at the phone, "Oh! Hold on, make a right here?" Karli squints at the phone while squinting and sighs out. "Damn, it was the next right, I'm sorry. I swear I thought it was this one."

"Aight, no biggie, I mean I’ll never let you give me directions ever again, but the street probably leads out to the same road." Daynie thrums her finger against the steering wheel, turning up the music a bit and bobbing her head. It wasn't until more than 10 minutes passed by that Daynie's concern rose. "Is Siri redirecting you?" She asks, craning her head to look at whats happening on the screen.

"Not yet, there's no signal here, but I think we'll be fine- Daynie, deer!" Karli yells.

Daynie's head whips up and she slams her foot on the brakes. No resistance is given and the tires continue to speed on the little road towards the animal staring straight ahead. Daynie swerves her car, continuing to smash her foot on the pedal to no avail. It's not until she's a hair away from hitting the animals that the car finally breaks and forces Daynie to swerve off the road into the woods.

"Hold on!" Daynie thrusts an arm out to protect her friend, as they make an impact with the closest tree.

~~~~

The scent of smoke is what first wakes up Karli.

Head spinning, a heavy metallic taste coats her mouth and it takes all her will to open her eyes.

Her vision swims and her brain doesn't register that a fire in the front of the car is slowly creeping towards her. Sobriety enters her system when a searing pain shoots up her legs and she sees her foot twisting at an unnatural angle, trapped between the seat and the compressed dashboard. Her hand goes to her seatbelt, and she winces when the heated metal burns her hand. She runs a panicked hand through her hair and is disgusted to feel sticky blood lining her forehead and scalp. She coughs at the noxious fumes quickly filling the car, and looks over at her friend, who's still unconscious from the crash.

"Daynie." Karli coughs out. She presses her hand against her friend's shoulder and shakes her. "Daynie...wake up." She says a bit louder. But Daynie continues to lean forward, head pressed against the steering wheel.

Tears leak from Karli's eyes. "Daynie, please wake up..." Karli whispers, coughing more from the smoke continuing to crawl into her lungs. Karli pushes herself up, crying out from her leg and holds in a pained breath. She reaches down to tear off a strip of her shirt, too busy trying to save herself and her friend to notice the ring on her hand beginning to faintly glow.

Her vision begins to fade once again, the smoke and car fumes making her head swim and she looks once more at her friend. She grabs the redhead's hand, the ring beginning to glow brighter and brighter as the precious seconds' tick by.

"If I'm dying, at least I'm dying with you." Karli chokes out with a small smile on her face, gripping her friend's hand and slowly closing her eyes.

The last thing she hears is a deafening crack, before drifting into unconsciousness. A bright green light surrounds the girls, and when it fades, the car is empty, save for the slow crackling of the fire.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to Kudos and comment what you thought!!


End file.
